02 May 2013 1:07 PM

They didn't have time to ski but the once acclaimed loudest band in the world sure rocked the Silvretta mountains above the Tyrol's Paznaun Valley in Austria.

Deep Purple have just performed the prestigious closing-of-the-ski-season concert on a vast, open air stage erected at 7,600 feet on the snowy plateau of Idalp in the heart of Ischgl's ski area.

The five revered veterans of rock, with an average age somewhere in the 60s, showed they could still strut their stuff, time those chords, hit those riffs, hammer those drums like machine gunfire and, in lead singer Ian Gillan's case, impressively hit those notes.

The crowd of mostly middle-aged Austrian and German rock fans held its breath as they opened with the challenging track, Fireball, only to follow it with another historic belter, Into The Fire. But when Gillan bellowed out that feral “into the fire” scream without so much as a quiver, 20,000 people visibly went berserk, erupting into applause knowing they were going to be treated to some vintage quality Deep Purple.

I spent the first three tracks about 30 feet from the front of the stage and just 15 feet from a wall of speakers. My ski jacket was flapping with the force of the reverberations and my friend bravely ventured even further forward to get some great pictures although I couldn't help noticing his bright yellow ear plugs lodged in place.

Many of Ischgl's finest ski slopes pour down into this plateau, a naturally panoramic, alpine amphitheatre dubbed by locals as the 'Silvretta Arena'. Avalanche danger was low before the concert, but once it kicked off, one had to wonder!

The great thing about this end of season concert (which has hosted a star-studded list of artists including The Killers, Elton John, Lionel Richie, Kylie Minogue, Rihanna, Roxette, Alicia Keys, Scissor Sisters...the list goes on), is that once you have purchased a lift pass for the day you just ski down for the lunchtime concert, take up your position in front of the stage and rock 'til you drop... or go skiing again.

I dread to think how many beer bottles were left in the snowy arena, but apart from the semi dismantled stage the next day (May 1) – officially the last day of Ischgl's impressive, five-month-long ski season – you wouldn't have known such a raucous event had taken place 18 hours prior.

About an hour before the show, I sneaked a private interview with founder member and bass guitarist Roger Glover, keyboard player Don Airey (who has long succeeded the famous Jon Lord who sadly passed away last year), and American guitarist Steve Morse, who has effectively taken Ritchie Blackmore's place in the band.

I asked them if they were worried about playing at altitude and if they were keen skiers.Glover told me: “I live in Switzerland now and ski many of the resorts in the Graubünden region (which include everything from giants like Davos-Klosters and St Moritz to lesser known, medium-sized resorts like Disentis and Arosa, plus secret gems, barely heard of in Britain like Avers, Splügen and Feldis).

"I love my skiing but sadly time will not allow us to ski at Ischgl, the resort looks great though the snow looks kind of mushy and there were some huge brown stretches of mountain on the way up the gondola.”

In fact Ischgl should be praised for keeping the long runs home to resort open with their unrivalled arsenal of 11,000 artifical snow canons. There are no other resorts open in Europe at this late stage of the season unless they have a glacier and the bulk of Ischgl's higher terrain, which reaches 9,396 feet at the Palinkopf ridge, from where you can ski down to Samnaun in Switzerland, remained open and well covered.

Airey told me with a tongue-in-cheek shrug: “I'm no more exhausted than normal.”But also proclaimed: “I've never skied before but coming up here in the télécabine (cable car) wowed me so much I wondered whether it was too late to start as it looks like so much fun.”

I told him it's never too late to start and he said: “Right then, there's an old coal tip in Sunderland which they've converted into a ski slope with matting on it – I'll try that!”

I said he should give me a call so I could come and see how he gets on but I won't hold my breath! Airey also added that he'd heard Ischgl was known for its nightlife so took a stroll down the main street and couldn't believe how many bars were packed with revellers strutting to loud music. “I could probably get very good at the apres-ski,” he added.

Steve Morse, who lives in Florida, said: “The band has experience of playing at altitudes like La Paz in Bolivia which goes to about 13,000 feet. But I must admit I got headaches there.

“I ski mostly with my family in America and love it but don't have much experience in Europe though would love to try it if time ever allowed. The slopes around here look awesome.”

Ischgl also stages an opening-of-the-season concert in November to send out the message that it guarantees a long snow stretch until May 1. So keep an eye on www.ischgl.com for news of next winter's artists.

11 March 2013 4:42 PM

We've recently given the French a bloody nose in the Six Nations rugby – now it seems we might also have to teach them a lesson on their own ski slopes.

The decision last month by a French court in Albertville to ban British ski hosts from conducting tours of the pistes to help familiarise their tour operator clients with complex ski areas, has outraged much of the British ski industry.

And it is already backfiring on French resorts and in particular the Ecole du Ski Francais (ESF).
The organisation has rigorously supported this antagonistic legal action against the harmless, but highly valued, ski hosting service provided for British skiing holidaymakers.

The ESF claim their support for banning hundreds, maybe thousands of British ski hosts from the French Alps is in the interest of safety. They say that any person officially leading a group of skiers, or person who is paid to do so, should be a qualified instructor.

The ESF and French authorities ignore the facts that one does not need to be of ski instructor standard to show people the best routes around the mountain, point out peaks of interest and identify good mountain restaurants. Nor do they recognise that British ski hosts never teach or offer technique tips of any kind and they certainly do not take their guests on the most difficult runs or venture off-piste.

The ESF have a long and notorious reputation for being 'protectionist' and it is difficult for even the least cynical of ski industry observers to assume that this hostile and ill-advised action is anything but a greedy attempt to force skiers who do not want lessons, to hire a ski instructor as a slope guide for fear of getting lost.

The biggest and most popular French ski areas with the Brits - including Les Trois Vallees (Val Thorens, Meribel Courchevel, Les Menuires), Espace Killy (Val d'Isere and Tignes) and Grand Paradiso (La Plagne and Les Arcs) - are huge areas of interconnecting glaciers, valleys and high alpine ridges. These areas can be overwhelming for skiers and snowboarders, especially first-time visitors, and denying them the free service of familiarisation could be considered dangerous in itself.

Twelve British tour operators, including all of the leading ones, have backed an appeal lodged by the small British company, Le Ski, which was first singled out by the French and prosecuted for the so-called 'illegal' deployment of a ski host.
Many of the tour operators are already receiving angry feedback from loyal clients' saying it's time to ditch French resorts in favour of alpine nations who will welcome them instead of biting the skiers' hands that feed their local economies.

Many other regular skiers and industry pundits are urging the most powerful British tour operators in French ski resorts to direct their clients to the International ski schools instead of the ESF because they feel the ESF will only learn by being hit where it hurts, in their French wallets.

Market leader, Crystal Ski, is already talking about shifting allocations of flights and beds for next winter since it is believed that the appeal court in Chambery will not hear the appeal case until the autumn and that it is most unlikely to overturn the judgement. The founder and boss of Le Ski, Nick Morgan, has pledged to take the case as far as European Courts if necessary as he believes that even if the French cannot see the injustice of their ways then the European courts might see it as unfair cross-border trading practise.

All this legal action takes time and British tour operators are having to plan for next winter without ski hosts in French resorts.
Marion Telsnig, spokesperson for ski operator Crystal Ski, said: “There is already a visible trend away from French resorts especially towards the Austrian ones. This is mostly because of the perceived better value of Austrian ski areas. So we have already been discussing levels of allocations to each alpine country for next winter but certainly this recent change in French law will now be an additional factor in those decisions.”

Long ago, I ski hosted (we were called ski guides back then) British holidaymakers in the French resort of Valmorel for Neilson Holidays. Even though we were the first ever British ski hosts to be qualified instructors, in an effort to prove our professionalism, it did not stop the hostility from the ESF who continually guided their ski lessons through my groups of innocent, social skiers.

My colleagues in the nearby resorts of La Plagne, Les Arcs and Val Thorens, told me they suffered much more threatening behaviour.
There's nothing new about the French loathing of the British working on their ski slopes even though they benefit from millions of pounds of our holiday money each winter.
Is it time to demand more camaraderie from the French? Is it time to boycott their resorts to see if that softens their hostility?

14 February 2013 9:27 AM

As far as emergency services on alpine roads are concerned, right now is the perfect storm.

The combination of ill-prepared ski holiday traffic in the busiest part of the winter - with unrelenting snow storms and freezing temperatures down to valley level, has, and is, causing carnage on access roads to ski resorts across the Alps.

Snow ploughs, gritting trucks and vehicle recovery services have all been overwhelmed.
I’ve driven the best part of 1300 miles between resorts in France and Switzerland over the last two weeks.

In that time I’ve nearly been run off the side of a scary road by an
out-of-control, skidding vehicle, witnessed multiple accidents, driven
past scores of cars strewn across highways or buried in ditches and snow
drifts, many of them sporting ski racks or top boxes, but too few of
them equipped with snow tyres, snow chains, or if they did have them
were clueless how to use them.

For most it is too late once the car is in a ditch. It’s either impossible to put the chains on or they would not help get the car out of trouble even if they could be fitted.
Most resorts have signs and lay-bys at various points along the windy mountain roads, telling drivers that this is the time and place to pull over and attach your chains if it is snowing.

Of course the human psyche doesn’t help. Even if drivers’ know how to put on their chains, they certainly have no desire to stop, get down on their knees in a snowstorm and grapple with cold metal and rubber around an oily wheel, if they can possibly avoid it.

The irony is that many have paid big bucks to purchase snow chains for their private car or ticked the box on the hire car website to ensure that chains are pre-paid and safely stored in the boot for your journey.
But it’s like those people who spend hundreds of pounds on having a gym membership card in their wallet, somehow convincing themselves that their vital organs and waistlines will be in better shape, without bothering to work the equipment.

On the gnarly mountain pass to St Moritz in Switzerland, I saw Dutch, German and Italian plates on some seriously expensive vehicles, all stranded in snow drifts with people in posh attire outside, protesting on their mobile phones to some over worked and underpaid recovery vehicle operator, 30 miles away, at how long it would take to get their vehicle on the road again.

On the route up to the French resort of La Plagne, just 36 hours ago, one English lady with kids in the back of her ditched Range Rover, told me she had got through to emergency services in the nearby town of Moutiers and had been told she was 18th on their list of cars to be rescued and that the company only had three recovery vehicles.

Then, since she had no snow chains, her car would be taken to the garage in Moutiers in the valley, where she could buy chains or snow tyres for her car, have them fitted and restart her family’s journey up the mountain, nearly half a day later, and many hundreds of euros lighter, than expected.

It is simply not worth cutting corners, even in the harshest of economic climates, when it comes to driving on alpine roads in the winter. Be prepared with the right gear and know how or brace yourself for a possibly very grim outcome.

21 January 2013 2:10 PM

It remains my favourite rail service in the world but, while the trains still run on time to an enviable standard, the impeccably clean Swiss carriages are sadly no longer free of crime.

It pains me greatly to point this out, as my last few decades have been filled with happy journeys gazing out over postcard views of lakes and mountains as the pride of Switzerland's transportation system takes the strain out of travel.

But if, like most tourists using Swiss trains, you leave your suitcases in the luggage compartments behind closed doors at the end of each carriage, be aware.

If you then wander up the carriage to find an empty window seat and let yourself drift off amongst the Heidi-like hills as station after station rolls by, you might just discover when you reach your destination that somebody has alighted at an earlier stop with your luggage.

When this happened to my nephews last winter, I thought this must be rare, but when they reported the incident, they were told to always keep an eye on their luggage if left at the end of the carriage.

They were also told that there was a specific problem with thieves boarding trains a few stops from popular airport stations, like Geneva and Zurich.

Apparently the chancers quickly scan luggage for tags indicating foreign travellers. In the case of Geneva, it is easy pickings, as they can get off with your luggage at the city stop, before the train moves off to the airport station.

By the time you discover it has gone, it is far too late. You are in the airport with no luggage and the thieves are probably already on a train back home inspecting their booty.

People are shocked when I tell them this story, though a couple of friends have recounted similar experiences. The very problem is the perception that, if there is any train service in the world where you can forget about your luggage until you reach your destination, it is Swiss Rail.

And if it were not for the fact that I was on a Swiss train last week when my friend’s rucksack went missing from practically under our noses, while our group engaged in post-Christmas banter, I probably would not bother blogging this at all.

Chris lost many personal possessions, including his passport. Hope is now fading that his bag will be handed in though he still shows mild signs of optimism despite the aggravation he faced when trying to fly home from Geneva Airport at the end of his ski trip.

Surprisingly, there is no longer a British Consul in Geneva so he had to travel to Bern instead to arrange an emergency passport.

Chris told me: "I had a police report explaining that my passport had been lost on a Swiss train at the start of my ski trip, but was still firmly told that I could not fly that Sunday evening.

"This meant an unscheduled overnight stay in Geneva, international calls explaining I would not be returning home that night, or to work Monday morning, and a five-hour return train ride to the Swiss capital."

The Swiss ticket inspectors took pity on Chris and didn't charge him for his return train to Bern when he explained his situation. But he is now all too aware that, however sad it is, we really do now need to be every bit as vigilant on Swiss trains as we are on our own or any other rail network in the world.

14 December 2012 12:40 PM

Terrifying statistics have just been released by the Government in the wake of dangerous, early snowfalls across the Alps.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office claim that 53 per cent of British skiers and snowboarders admitted they would follow mates off piste and 65 per cent would ski a slope beyond their ability in order to stay with the group.

With the lion's share of European resorts scheduled to officially open this weekend, many of which are already posting the highest levels of avalanche risk at 4 or 5 (out of 5), this research has set major alarm bells ringing.

Consular staff have already seen seven deaths in France during 2012 and at least one more has been added in the run up to this winter after an avalanche struck in the popular Val d'Isere/Tignes area during the recent storms.

More than a dozen other people, caught in recent but separate avalanches in Switzerland, have been lucky to escape without major injury or worse.
Large swathes of the Alps have been affected by intense snow falls and high winds, with many resorts struggling to open their upper elevations while ski patrollers battle to make safe the vast snow accumulations which, in some cases, threaten ski lifts and pistes.

The so-called Alpine Code is based on common sense. Ignore it at your peril.
If the black and yellow chequered avalanche flags are flying, cancel plans to ski in the backcountry.
If you are venturing off piste, ideally hire a local guide.

Always take a buddy with you, never let them out of your sight and always carry the essential equipment of transceiver, probe and shovel and let a third party know where you intend to ski.

The Ski Club of Great Britain recognises that transceivers are the most expensive element of the off-piste kit which is why they maintain and rent them out to members and non-members on a weekly basis. (Check out details here.)

The Government's own Top Tips for skiers' safety include: Watch your speed and distance to avoid collisions, and don't attempt slopes beyond your ability or fitness levels. See more at www.fco.gov.uk/travel.

It's a very difficult word to regulate because the concept of luxury means different things to different people. Luxury offered by mainstream tour operators, for example, can be a world away from what's on offer from
specialist 'luxury' chalet agents.

A week-long December holiday is currently advertised by Inghams
Luxury Ski for
£491.55 per person. What do you get for your money? A twin, mezzanine room in
their Chalet Sarenne at the resort of Alpe d'Huez in France, including chalet
board, flights, transfers and ski carriage.

For the same week, a few valleys away in Courchevel 1850,
luxury chalet agency, Consensio (www.consensioholidays.co.uk)
offers Chalet Chinchilla for £3,812 per person based on full occupancy and
chalet board. Throw in the cost of flights, transfers and ski carriage, or ski
rental, and this is not far off ten times the cost of the luxury offered by
Inghams.

I haven't visited either of the specific
chalets but I know, very well, the types of holidays and accommodation that both
companies offer. Both know their respective markets well but perhaps one should use the expression 'Uber Luxury' and the
other 'Mainstream Luxury'.

While I appreciate the many shortcomings of the hotel rating
system, it is my belief that skiers and snowboarders, at all budget levels,
would welcome and benefit from a rating structure that all companies who are renting
chalets, conform to.

This structure must seek not just to tick facility and
service boxes but to accurately convey the genuine standard of everything from
size and décor of bedrooms, bathrooms, communal rooms, games rooms, cinema
suites, spa areas and swimming pools through to catering, chauffeur, wifi and
massage services.

It is after all the standard of these things, not just the
availability of them, which will help us understand what sort of bang we are
getting for our buck.

28 June 2011 10:17 AM

On Midsummer's Day, when most of us are thinking about strawberries at Wimbledon, the last thing that leaps to mind is a day on the piste.

So what could possibly possess a television presenter to hail a helicopter to the summit of the second highest peak in the Alps - then launch himself, on skis, down its potentially lethal glacial steeps on the scant remains of last winter’s snow?

The answer is a registered condition called, Seasonal Affective Disorder – or yes, SAD for short.

Fortunately the TV presenter in question is BBC Ski Sunday's Graham Bell (see the image above, front of shot) – a man who also happens to have represented Britain at no less than five Winter Olympics. So his chances of surviving such a seemingly crazy adventure are better than for the average holiday skier.

Nonetheless, this is still a daring skiing feat. And Graham's SAD condition is to blame. In an unusual way.

The bulk of SAD sufferers experience symptoms in the cold, bleak months of winter. Lighter cases are referred to as 'Winter Blues', but more hardcore cases involving serious mood disorders are sometimes referred to as 'Winter Depression'. This can require treatments ranging from bright lights and cognitive behavioural therapies, through to hormone supplements and anti-depressants.

Graham, 45, happily married with two kids and normally of sound mind, suffers a rarer form of the disorder. His symptoms arise in summer when he is pining for winter – and specifically craving high-altitude thrills, panoramas, snow and cold temperatures.

This is known as Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder (RSAD).

But where to find snow in Europe in June? This is possible. But only in a select few places.

Graham's mountain fix of choice is the imposing ridge of the Monte Rosa, which constitutes the formidable 20-mile-long 'border in the sky' between Italy and Switzerland. Here, 22 glacial peaks soar above 4,000 metres. The highest, Dufourspitz in the Valais region of Switzerland, reaches the head-spinning altitude of 4,634 metres. In terms of the western Europe, only Mont Blanc, at 4,807 metres, is higher.

The lack of oxygen above 4,000 metres would hit most mortals with bouts of light-headedness – and a big chunk of us would suffer the graver symptoms of breathlessness, headaches, nausea or blackouts.

And that's before you factor in the risks of skiing the Monte Rosa's untamed rock faces and sheer gullies – which, even when covered in deep seasonal snow, still only attract the world's most experienced skiers.

In winter, the Monte Rosa ridge boasts the best heliskiing terrain in western Europe – but it can only be flown to and skied when conditions permit. In summer, it is a magnet for climbers and hikers the world over.

At such altitudes, savage winds, heavy cloud, avalanches (of both rock and snow varieties) are all common dangers.

Graham called me at seven in the morning. A bit bleary-eyed, I answered the phone.

"We've landed," he panted triumphantly, and with a sense of comfort in his voice. I could hear the wind down the phone line in my London flat.

"It’s amazing," he continued. "We hiked about another 100 metres after the drop off to near the Punta Gnifetti [4,554 metres] on the Italian side. I was looking down - yes down – at the Matterhorn [4,478 metres]. It’s just fabulous up here, it’s a bit cold.... uh... about minus 25 and uh... as you can probably hear, it’s fairly windy.

"We’ve had to drop down a bit to get out of the worst of it and I’m now looking at a massive yawning crevasse. Crikey, it looks like it could swallow a whole building.

"That’s where we need to be careful. There are hundreds of crevasses hidden by snow bridges – so we’re not veering too far from our guide’s tracks.

"But there's a blue sky overhead, a crunch of snow underfoot, the blast of icy wind on my face and views you could die for."

"Please don’t do that Graham," I interjected. "Call me again when the snow runs out."

I could barely hear his "OK" as he set off down the Col de Lys with his guide Gianni Carbone and snowboarding photographer Daniel Taylor.

About 90 minutes later, I heard from Graham again. And he sounded ecstatic – his need for a winter adrenaline fix sated.

"We managed about 1,200 metres of vertical before the snow ran out," he gasped.

"It was a mix of hard-packed spring snow and ice. But a great experience, what a place."

"You wouldn’t normally do this in summer, I suppose," he mused. “We skied passed climbers on their way up who looked at us in total astonishment."

26 March 2010 9:47 AM

For skiers and snowboarders, the closing period of winter is normally full of celebration, in-resort music festivals and fun-filled, blue-sky skiing, on and off the pistes.

But beware the latter. This has not been the great winter for snow which blessed Europe’s Alps and most of North America’s Rockies last season.

Far from it. The all important big dump of wet snow during October, November or early December, never arrived in most places. This first, wet snow, is vital, as it clings to the grassy or rocky surface – then with a drop in temperature, it freezes to the mountainside forming the solid snow base for the season.

This winter, most ski areas did not benefit from this, but instead experienced small, but mercifully regular, snow falls, thus allowing the bulk of resorts to maintain a healthy-looking snow cover throughout the season.

But in truth, for large parts of the winter the snow-pack, off-piste, has been unstable due to the elusiveness of the early wet snow.

And never more unstable than right now when early spring temperatures are soaring throughout many parts of the Alps.

Where I am skiing now in the Italian Dolomites (famous for its beautiful mountains but also for its 300-plus days of sunshine per year), avalanches are rife. This is not uncommon in these parts at this time of year but even the mountain guides have been surprised by the amount of slides. Each day I have skied here, I have heard and seen small and large avalanches not far from the pistes.

The day before yesterday I saw from a chairlift the debris at the top of a fairly small and innocuous-looking slip, only to realise a few pylons later, that this avalanche had accumulated, ripped the remaining slushy snow from the ground and slipped all the way on to the piste.

Then I saw the red cordon directing piste skiers away from the avalanche piste area and an on-going search, involving five ski patrollers methodically probing the debris in search of bodies, was under way. This is a chilling sight, especially on piste, but I must make it clear, it is rare for avalanches to reach any piste.

From a distant restaurant we could see a helicopter hovering over the avalanche site about 30 minutes later. Our instructor told us that if any buried bodies were found, the helicopter only served to carry them to the mortuary as 15 minutes is generally the maximum amount of time humans can survive buried under the snow.

Yesterday, our mountain guide, Dimitri Cola, locally known as Pippo, had not heard about this slide when I pointed out the, now mostly cleared, avalanche site from the same chairlift.

We were on our way back from a usually, moderate off-piste itinerary in the Val Lasties sector of the vast Super Dolomiti ski region which offers over 1,200 kilometres of loosely connected ski slopes and a mass of back country ski terrain to boot.

Dimitri was also surprised to find a big avalanche had fallen in a couloir we needed to ski during our Val Lasties descent. This rubble was impossible to negotiate at speed. The big boulders of frozen snow needed to be tackled slowly and diligently for our own safety. But time was not on our side and speed was needed as the snow-pack was becoming increasingly unstable as the scorching sun raised the ambient temperature to 21 degrees by 10.30am!

We still needed to traverse a wide slope under a rock band which avalanches regularly, indicated by the lack of trees in its path. By the time we got to it, we could see and feel the tension emanating from Dimitri’s face. Traversing at speed was impossible as we were breaking through the slush crust and sinking to the ground every few metres.

This was exhausting and treacherous territory. We should not have been there. I knew it, my girlfriend knew it, and Dimitri certainly knew it. Even an hour earlier we should not have been there. In truth, we should not have been there at all.

There was palpable relief all round when we reached our destination for a well earned – should I say, 'survived', drink. My girlfriend’s drink was a Grappa.

If internationally qualified mountain guides can be taken by surprise in this end of season warm weather, then think hard yourselves, before going off-piste in such spring conditions, remembering that the early season snow-base was never formed in most places.

As Dimitri declared to us after our experience here in the Dolomites yesterday: “Freeride skiing for the season is finished!”

16 March 2010 1:35 PM

Every time I do a road trip I wonder why more skiers and snowboarders don’t opt for the freedom to explore more than one resort on one holiday – wherever they are.

And especially in Canada and America. I recently spent two weeks touring five US resorts that ranged from glitzy Aspen to the barely-known Silverton. These Colorado ski towns, including Crested Butte, Telluride and Winter Park (where I met up with the British Disabled Ski Team before the Winter Paralympics, currently being held in Whistler – good luck!), are wonderful for a holiday in their own right (with the exception of Silverton which is a boot-packing, purely off-piste destination). However, collectively they are so much more rewarding.

I will be expanding more on my American 'ski safari' (www.skisafari.co.uk) in the travel pages of The Mail on Sunday in the run up to next winter but it's safe to say I'm smitten with road tripping.

Driving in rugged, rural and remote mountainous states like Wyoming, Idaho and Montana is a huge treat. Colorado is amongst the best because you still get the wow factor from the vastness of the expansive skies and plains but you also get the vintage Rocky Mountain high. Yes, I mean high. Driving in these parts is a thrill in itself and an integral part of any Colorado holiday. Most of the resorts I visited were over 9,000 feet high and at some, I was sleeping in hotels or condos at higher altitudes than this. Even the mountain passes I negotiated in my giant four-wheel drive Suburban reached heights of 11,000 feet and more.

The air is thin and on the leg from Aspen to Crested Butte alone I drove on roads where I saw no other vehicles for hour-long periods and climbed over passes that revealed breathtaking lakes which seemed to occupy their own huge, lost frozen world. During this segment of the journey I pulled over to take a picture by the lake shore where there was a large hillock of snow with a huge brown rock in the middle of it.

As I got out with camera in hand and began walking towards the mound, the rock suddenly reared up and took off just 15 feet from where I stood momentarily paralysed in terror. In the silence, I could clearly hear the “whoomf” as this giant, Jurassic-like creature, with a wingspan wider than my 4WD, flapped and took flight. I had just seen a golden eagle, up close and personal. I swear it looked so big and powerful, I felt as if it might have sunk its talons into me and carried me off for lunch.

In fact he or she was already full, as left on the snow mound was its sad looking prey – a coyote with its head torn clean off and with a steering wheel-sized hole in its midriff clearly showing the rib cage with no meat left on the bones at all.

When you do reach civilisation, there are funky little places like Hotchkiss which claims to be the 'Friendliest town around' - there aren’t too many around to choose from, that’s for sure. Then there are the mining and railroad communities and vineyards producing award-winning wine.

Road tripping teaches you so much more about the environment you are in and gives you the hidden, sometimes highly valuable, extras which you rarely get by staying in one destination. Next winter could be the perfect time to set out on a vehicular adventure? What do you think?

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04 March 2010 4:51 PM

All too often ski resort authorities are callously satisfied to fill their hotel and chalet beds with high-paying families during peak ski season periods. They then sit back counting the cash while adults struggle through the throng trying to find things that might entertain them, and most importantly, their children.

This attitude is most distasteful. It is fuelled by stupidity and greed because resorts have a captive audience at such times and should be bending over backwards helping to make family holidays as special as possible in order that those families choose that destination the following year.

When you do come across something genuinely great for the whole family in a ski resort, it stands out as brilliant but woefully rare – like The Night Show which I attended yesterday in the Swiss resort of Villars.

This type of thoroughly-thought-out, well-rehearsed entertainment is exactly what hundreds more ski resorts should be looking to do for their holiday guests. And it is all available at reasonable cost.

The Villars Night Show is a spectacular for the whole family, staged once a week during February and the first week of March, thus providing entertainment for families during all of Europe’s school holidays, including the British half-term week.

The hour-long fantasia takes place between 7 and 8pm, so even young children can stay up for it and families can also get back to their hotels in time for their half-board meal if desired.

It is staged on the snowy slopes just above the main hub of the ski area, at Bretaye, reached by mountain trains scheduled specially for the event.

Some 200 of the resort’s ski and snowboard instructors and other staff are professionally choreographed to a dramatic music and light show telling the story of the evolution of winter sports.

They also demonstrate everything that can be done during all four seasons in the mountains, using high-tech projection equipment from towers illuminating the entire Chaux Ronde ski area with a wonderful array of graphics.

Throughout the fast paced hour, there was a rich blend of music from Vivaldi’s classic Four Seasons, children’s tunes and Christmas songs through to groovy South American beats and standard pop hits.

Each of the numbers kept the 1,000-strong audience warm due to their dancing and swaying.

The all-action show included high-speed skiing, snowboarding, formation skiing by the international ski school and the Swiss national ski school, which managed a perfect Swiss Cross on the steep slope all in red uniform.

The high-speed descents by the mountain bikers on snow, dancing and jumping snowmobilers, paragliders, airboarding and aerial stunt displays, all accompanied by lasers and spotlights, completely wowed the crowd.

But the finale featuring a fleet of snowcat machines descending in formation while letting off a barrage of fireworks from their rigs lighting up the night sky over our heads, was the piece-de-resistence.

To see and be part of the cheering crowd, adults dancing and singing along, children gazing in awe at the stunts and fireworks all in an outdoor alpine environment is the stuff of a memorable ski holiday.

Take a bow Villars. Gladly the resort has confirmed the show will also be staged next year during peak season as well as a couple of extra Saturday shows. Keep informed about dates and costs on www.villars.ch. For more pics from this year’s show, visit this web page or to see an edited version on You Tube click here.